Ukraine struck one of Russia's most strategically significant defense facilities Saturday night, hitting the Votkinsk Machine Building Plant in a remote region nearly 800 miles from the Ukrainian border — the deepest strike ever launched by Ukraine using a domestically produced weapon.
The weapon: a Flamingo cruise missile, built by a Ukrainian startup in less than nine months, assembled in part from engines salvaged from junked Soviet-era training aircraft.
The target: the factory that manufactures Iskander ballistic missiles — the weapon Russia has used repeatedly to kill Ukrainian civilians throughout the war — as well as Kinzhal hypersonic missiles and components for intercontinental ballistic missiles.
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Ukraine's General Staff confirmed the strike Saturday, saying the attack caused a fire at the Votkinsk plant. Russian regional governor Alexander Brechalov acknowledged the attack, saying it caused "damage and injuries" but provided no further details. Eleven people were reported wounded, three hospitalized.
The Votkinsk plant is not just another factory. It is the spine of Russia's missile production architecture — a single facility responsible for weapons that span the entire range of Russian strike capability, from battlefield ballistic missiles to nuclear-armed intercontinental weapons.
Iskander missiles, produced at Votkinsk, have struck Ukrainian cities, hospitals, restaurants and villages throughout the war. On June 27, 2023, an Iskander hit the Ria Pizza restaurant in Kramatorsk, a city near the eastern front. Thirteen civilians were killed, including children. Ukrainian writer Victoria Amelina, who had been dining there, died of her injuries days later on July 1st.
In October 2023, an Iskander struck the village of Hroza, killing 59 people in a single strike — nearly wiping out an entire community gathered in one place.
Russia named the missile "Iskander" — the Arabic rendering of Alexander the Great — to signal invulnerability and conquest. On Saturday night, the factory that produces it was on fire.
The FP-5 Flamingo is a product of Ukrainian ingenuity born from necessity. Developed by a Ukrainian startup called Fire Point, the cruise missile was built in under nine months and uses Ivchenko AI-25TL turbofan engines salvaged from decommissioned L-39 training aircraft. Its range exceeds 3,000 kilometers — more than twice that of an American Tomahawk cruise missile. Its warhead weighs 1,150 kilograms. Its cost: approximately $500,000 per unit, roughly one-third the price of a Tomahawk.
Ukraine's air defense faces a compounding problem. Patriot missile batteries — Ukraine's only credible defense against Iskander ballistic missiles — have been increasingly challenged since Russia upgraded the Iskander's terminal guidance software in 2025. The missiles now perform evasive maneuvers in their final seconds of flight and deploy radar decoys to confuse interceptors. According to a Financial Times investigation published in October 2025, Ukraine's ballistic missile interception rate dropped from 37 percent in August 2025 to just 6 percent in September 2025. The U.S. Defense Intelligence Agency confirmed Russia's upgrades the same month.
Ukraine is running out of ways to stop them in the air. So it targeted the source.
Every Iskander that is never built never reaches a Ukrainian city.
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The Votkinsk strike represents a significant evolution in Ukraine's approach to the war. Rather than absorbing Russian strikes and attempting to intercept them — a strategy increasingly strained by dwindling interceptor stocks — Ukraine is targeting the industrial infrastructure that sustains Russia's ability to wage war at range. The Flamingo missile, assembled from salvaged parts, just reached further inside Russia than any Ukrainian-made weapon in history.
The war enters its fifth year next week. Peace talks in Geneva ended Wednesday with no breakthrough.
The factory that builds Russia's most feared missile is on fire.
